


Seven Days, Seven Dreams

by asgarden



Series: the Black Brothers [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Regulus Black is a Good Brother, Sirius Black is a Good Brother, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, the black brothers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 19:48:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17107013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asgarden/pseuds/asgarden
Summary: The last days of his life, he dreamed seven dreams.





	Seven Days, Seven Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> This little draft has started so long ago yet never got finished. The Fantastic Beast movie this year had pulled me back into the HP fandom, and somehow the first old draft I dug out was still about the Black brother. I guess that says something about my obsession. Let's see if I manage to finish it this time around. 
> 
> Not beta'd.

He’s dying.

His delirious mind conjured shadows and monsters and memories. They swarmed across his eyes and grew larger, swirling and contorting and devouring.

He’s so sure he would be swallowed whole by them in the next blink of an eye.

Yet he’s still breathing, could still felt his throat sore and burning. He crawled blindly towards the only source of water in this forsaken cave, even a remote part of his brain was screaming at him to stop, don’t go near the water, there were terrible, real monsters lurking in the depth, waiting for him.

But the warning was distant, weak. His burning throat urged him forward, inch by inch.

Until a small hand gripped his arm so hard that it hurt.

Regulus startled and widened his eyes, shadows of the past subsided briefly. His house elf crouched in front of him, eyes wet with what’s suspiciously like tears, and he’s muttering incessantly to himself, “Stop stop stop stop...”

“Kreacher, why are you still here?” Regulus asked with a hoarse whisper, despair rising rapidly in his heart. No! No no no no, Kreacher had to leave! Kreacher can’t die here with him or else everything would be in vain.

“Kreacher can’t just let Master died! Kreacher can’t LEAVE!” Kreacher’s wail was almost hysterical. Regulus was stunned with what amounted to open defiance of an expressed order by a house elf, and didn’t protest as Kreacher apparated both of them away from the cave, leaving a loud crack echoing behind in the dark cave.

Regulus was still dazed when he's laid down in his bed by Kreacher, it’s only when Kreacher was about to leave his room to fetch for something that he finally snapped to his attention.

“Kreacher.” Regulus’s voice was still hoarse and his tone grave. Kreacher stopped on his track and stared at Regulus with frightened wide eyes. Regulus swallowed and tried again with a softer voice, “Kreacher, please stop. Go back to your place and go about the day as normal. _Do not_ say a word to anyone in the family. Nothing has happened, is that clear?”

Kreacher hesitated, but the astonishing defiance shown in the cave seemed to have deserted him and he had no choice but to obey Regulus’s direct order. “As Master Regulus wish.” Kreacher said in a whisper and bowed before leaving the room, closing the door behind him gently.

Regulus felt sick, his body ached all over and a burning, nauseous feeling settled deep in his stomach, and he was very sure his legs were hurt. Squeezing his eyes tightly, Regulus tried not to think about the overwhelming magnitude of the thing he had done. He shouldn’t have survived. If he’s discovered...If...

Sighing inaudibly, he pushed all thoughts away. Any worry would be left to tomorrow; now what he wanted most was to simply sleep, to forget everything about this world, about his life. He slowly fell into a slumber.

As he slipped deeper into his dreams, another magical world opened its wondrous doors and welcomed him with open arms.

 

**Sunday. Stranger**

Just like strangers; but not really 

He couldn’t breathe. Struggling vainly for air, he panicked and thrashed in the water.

His head was dizzy, and he had no idea how he ended up in the water. He should be on the way to his lessons, confident and fully prepared for his sixth year. A very important year; or so his parents said.

He struggled fiercely, trying to get more air into his lungs.

A hand suddenly grabbed his left arm and pulled him forcefully up the shore. When he was able to breathe again he let out a sigh of relief. Thank Merlin there was someone nearby. With gratitude, he looked up into a pair of familiar grey eyes, eyebrows frowned in concern.

_Sirius._

He was so surprised by such open display of concern towards him in his brother’s eyes that he froze on the spot, eyes widened.

_Sirius stopped worrying about me the moment he made friends with Potter._

Regulus thought bitterly, mildly incredulous at this ridiculous turn of event. He made an effort to stand up, brushing Sirius’s hand aside.

Reluctantly grumbled a “Thanks” to the air, deliberately not looking at Sirius, he turned to leave.

Apparently Sirius was not going to let him go without a talk, however. Gripping Regulus’s arm to stop him, Sirius asked impatiently, “Are you alright, Reg? What’s wrong?”

_What’s wrong?_

Regulus whirled around, pushed Sirius away forcefully and looked at him directly in his eyes, wanting to scream “Everything is wrong, Sirius! Everything is wrong the moment you decided to be sorted into Gryffindor! And now you ask _me_ what’s wrong?”

Yet he stood there staring at Sirius, speechless; a sense of wrongness creeping over his senses. There was something strange about Sirius; or about himself; or about this place; he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

Sirius walked towards him slowly, eye contact never wavering.

“You are very touchy and strange today, Reg. Care to tell me why? And by the way,” Sirius pointed to his robe and tie, mouth thinned, “What happened to your dress? Why are you wearing _those_?”

“There’s nothing wrong with my dress!” Regulus looked down briefly to ensure his attire was indeed impeccable (other than being sopping wet) before retorted hotly, “and I am always touchy around you, so go away!”

Sirius frowned.

Regulus frowned in return. This wasn’t the Sirius he knew. The reaction was all _wrong_.

The Sirius he knew would have teased him mercilessly as soon as he was out of the water — _but he WOULD pull you out of the water first,_ a treacherous part of his mind whispered. And within two minutes he would be gone together with his _friends,_ after levelling him with a stare full of taunting and contempt. Sirius never liked staying near him, let alone talking to him for anything more than an absolute necessity. The sudden change in attitude and Sirius looking at him strangely now, eyeing him up and down suspiciously, all these unnerved him.

“I am sorry to give you bad news, but Regulus was never quite this touchy around me. So,” Sirius said in a deliberately low voice slowly, looking intently at Regulus, “ _Who_ on earth are you?”

Regulus swallowed and retorted, hoping his sneer was enough to drive Sirius away, “Who else could I be but the unlucky brother of Sirius Black? On the other hand, while we are at it, who are _you_?”

Sirius narrowed his eyes, “Really? I see. Now, I think, is a time we are good for a chat with Dumbledore.”

He grabbed Regulus’s left arm firmly and dragged him towards the castle.

“What—”

Regulus sputtered and tried to struggle, but he only did half-heartedly for a moment. Soon he gave up and let Sirius drag him along.

 _Yes,_ he decided, _we did need to see Dumbledore. Everything just doesn’t make sense._

Not that he’s particularly fond of visiting _the Muggle-loving fool_ ’s office; but if there’s anyone who could make sense of the current situation, it was probably him.

When McGonagall led them into the office, he glanced around the room with the curiosity of a very small child. It was the first time he’s been to Dumbledore’s office. Unlike Sirius, who must have been in this place more times than he could count.

Before he realised it he was already standing in front of Dumbledore’s desk, left arm still in Sirius’s grip. He shrugged Sirius off quickly. Suddenly feeling nervous out of nowhere — he knew he did nothing wrong, yet he couldn’t help feeling a sense of trepidation. He stared at the desk instead of looking at Dumbledore.

“Ah, my boys, what brings you to my office, dare I ask?” Dumbledore’s voice was pleasant and mild as ever, and he sounded like he was rather amused.

Sirius hesitated for a moment before launching into an explanation, “…it’s Regulus. Or whoever this is. There’s something wrong with him. He doesn’t sound like my brother, and he’s wearing Slytherin colours! This definitely is _not_ my brother!”

Regulus straightened his back a little and finally looked up at Dumbledore, “Sir, I would say the same thing about _him_! He doesn’t feel right to me. I’ve never seen him behaving like this. And to me, there is nothing wrong in wearing Slytherin colours!”

Maybe because of the absurdity of the claims, Dumbledore’s amusement only seemed to grow, “Hmm, may I ask, what were you doing before this happened?”

“He was…”

“I was…”

Sirius glared at Regulus, “Let me explain it.”

Regulus shrugged and remained silent after that.

“He was drowning in the lake - I didn’t know how he fell into it. I grabbed his arm and pulled him up. After that, we argued, and end up here in your office.”

“So, before the incident that he fell into the lake, everything was normal?” Dumbledore asked.

“Yes!” Sirius answered quickly. Regulus merely nodded.

Dumbledore stood up and walked to them. He looked at them both intently, the amusement half gone and his expression thoughtful.

“This is indeed curious…”

Dumbledore looked into their eyes as if to check whether they have lied, and then he smiled again. “I do believe you are both telling the truth. I have a hunch on what is actually happening. If you will let me explain — I can’t be absolutely sure, but I am fairly confident that I am right.”

“Sometimes, just sometimes, fate has a little twisted humour to play on us. What you experienced, I suspect is a very old magical occurrence that is rarely seen these days.”

Dumbledore took another fifteen minutes to explain to them what this strange event meant.

Finally, Sirius spoke with a frown, “So, what you are trying to tell us is, we are from two different _worlds_ ; and in _that_ world of his, the Regulus standing beside me is in Slytherin, while _my_ _brother_ Regulus is in Gryffindor. Now because of some twisted magical occurrence that disrupts between different worlds, he enters our world.”

“Essentially, yes.” Dumbledore nodded.

Sirius turned to look at Regulus, his frown deepened; it’s as if he couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea of a _different_ Regulus. One who doesn’t belong in Gryffindor. Regulus didn’t blame him. He had every difficulty imagining himself a _Gryffindor_ . He could only wonder how his mother would react if this ever happened in _his_ world.

“But, but what happened to _my brother_ then? What happened to Regulus in our world?” Sirius stammered slightly, sudden worry written all over his expression.

Dumbledore put a soothing hand on his shoulder, “Do not worry, Mr Black. If I did not speculate wrongly, your brother would be in his counterpart’s place. There will be a way to rectify the problem. Most often, however, nature corrects the slight twist of fate itself after a short period of time, and there’s nothing that we need to do but wait.”

“What if it didn’t? He, _my brother_ , he’s going to be stuck in a world where everyone expects him to be a Slytherin; yet he’s not!” Sirius wouldn’t back down, “He’s going to...He...”

Dumbledore replied calmly, “I am sure he would seek the help of my counterpart, or whoever that’s responsible for Hogwarts in that world. And we would do our best to help.”

He turned to Regulus, “I hope I am right to presume that there is someone who can offer help to your counterpart?”

Regulus nodded slightly, “I am sure he would go to the Headmaster for help.”

Dumbledore smiled mildly at him and nodded, “That would be great. Meanwhile, young gentlemen, we have to settle Regulus’s stay in this place, however short it may be, it’s likely to still take at least a few days, and we can’t let a student roam freely in the castle after dark. Before we the issue resolves itself, I am afraid Mr Regulus Black will have to stay in our world. What do you say about Regulus staying in the Gryffindor tower with you, Sirius? Is this arrangement acceptable for both of you?”

“What—” Sirius spluttered, “Let him stay with me? But he’s not Regulus. Well, not really! At least not the Regulus I know! He’s a _Slytherin_!”

Regulus looked down again. He didn’t want to look too eager to accept the offer. He wanted to spend time with his brother. Well, not _his brother_ exactly, but Sirius nonetheless; Gryffindor, short-tempered, looking-for-trouble Sirius. He wanted to stay with Sirius, even though that meant he would also be staying with all those Mudbloods and such; but he didn’t want to look too eager.

If Sirius would not have him stay in the Gryffindor tower, he’s not going to plead. Just like when Sirius ran away.

_If Sirius wasn’t going to stay, he sure was not going to plead._

It was that simple.

Dumbledore looked at Sirius for a while, and then turned to Regulus, “What do you say, Regulus?”

Regulus didn’t prepare for the question to be directed at him so quickly and he stuttered, “Eh, well, whatever Sirius is comfortable with.”

He regretted saying this right away. He should reject the offer at once; say he wanted to stay elsewhere. With the Slytherins, probably; though that would surely complicate the whole problem and cause suspicion. So probably not a good idea.

He was surprised to find Sirius’s expression softened at his words.

Sirius sighed a little, conceded, “Well, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all. He could stay with me.”

Dumbledore smiled, “That solves a big issue. Now, just a word of caution. I will be looking into the solution for this problem with other professors, in the event that the problem doesn’t resolve itself in a few days. However, you should keep this strictly a secret between the two of you. The fewer people know of this the better. That includes keeping it from your best friends, Sirius.”

Sirius looked like he wanted to argue, but thought better of it and stopped. Regulus simply nodded.

“Great. Now off you go. Please continue your daily activities.” Dumbledore finally dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

They trotted out of Dumbledore’s office quickly. Regulus was trailing half a step behind Sirius, remaining silent along the way. It was Sirius who finally broke the silence after a few minutes, “So, what is it like over there?”

Regulus stared for a moment and then realised Sirius meant what it was like in the other world. He shrugged, “Nothing really struck me as too different in this place so far, to be honest. The same old castle, the same lake, Dumbledore’s more or less the same. Everything else I couldn’t really compare yet.”

“Oh.” Sirius kicked the wall absentmindedly. After a moment of silence, he asked again, “What about me? Is there anything different about me?”

Regulus faltered at this question.

“Eh, no, I don’t think so. Not really different, anyway.” He finally said after some hesitation.

“But you insisted just now that I don’t feel right. Not like your brother.” Sirius pressed.

“Well, my brother, he, isn’t really on speaking terms with me. So when you asked whether I was alright at the lake and looked so concerned, I was just…a little surprised.” Regulus said hesitantly and very quietly.

“Why is your brother—Oh…” Sirius realised at once what might be the answer to his question and caught himself in time.

“Yeah…” Regulus replied vaguely.

They continued their walk towards the Gryffindor tower in silence.

Finally, they reached their destination, Sirius gestured to the Fat Lady and said dramatically to Regulus, “Welcome to Gryffindor, the most magnificent of four houses in Hogwarts! Be my guest. Well, at least if you don’t make too much trouble.”

Regulus gave him a weak smile and attempted a retorted, “I thought you were the one who would make too much trouble. I always behave myself.”

Sirius laughed, “That’s too true! Of course, me and James, who couldn’t stay out of trouble’s way!”

He said the password happily and the Portrait swung open. Only he turned to find Regulus stood where he was and did not follow. “What’s the matter?” Sirius asked.

Regulus hesitated for a moment and then finally said, “I…do not get along very well with Pott- _James Potter_. Or most of Gryffindors, for that matter. Just, help distract them a little when they are around me, or I am afraid I will slip something.”

Sirius frowned, but agreed nonetheless, “Okay. Just stay close to me whenever possible then.”

Regulus nodded mutely and he was suddenly very envious of his other self. He could picture when first sorted into Gryffindor, Sirius said the same thing to him.

_Stay close to me._

This meant in Sirius’s vocabulary, _I would protect you_.

Not like what Sirius said to him after his sorting.

‘Go back to your little _friends_. Here’s not where you should be!’

He followed Sirius into the Gryffindor common room wordlessly. It was lucky for him that the common room was more or less empty at this hour of the day. Sirius led him to the Boys’ Dormitory and pointed to him which bed would be his to stay.

Regulus then watched Sirius dug out books and other belongings of his other self.

“Not sure how long you are going to stay, so maybe you will need all these. Just be careful with them. Don’t scribble anything on the books; take care of the books and such. Regulus will go insane when he gets back if he finds out his books are not under good care. A book-loving freak, he is.” Sirius said with fond exasperation.

Regulus returned the smile slightly, “Don’t worry, I am quite a freak when it comes to caring for books myself. I think they will be in good hands.”

Sirius laughed, “That’s good. Now I am more confident that you really are Regulus, although not exactly the same one as mine.”

Regulus only nodded.

Sirius patted his shoulder, “Just do whatever you like. I will ask one of your classmates to excuse you from today’s lessons. I am having Transfiguration soon, so I need to get going. See you tonight then. Don’t get yourself into trouble!”

He then jogged off.

Regulus waved his goodbye and wondered, was Sirius _this_ elder-brotherly with everyone around him. He never had the chance to find out with _his_ brother. Not after he went to Hogwarts, at least; but he thought he could remember a time, when they were really young, Sirius would let him follow around and play together with him. Maybe Sirius was very protective of him at that time. He just couldn’t really remember anything more specific.

He stared at the books lay before him, didn’t know what to do next. A feeling of dread suddenly rose inside his mind after Sirius left. He was in a completely strange world. No, not _completely_ strange, but strange enough that he didn’t know what to expect, and how to behave. What would the other Regulus do when he was asked a question? Or when he met a Gryffindor? Or worse, when he met a Slytherin? Would he taunt them or make pranks on them as his brother would? He was confused and he wanted so much to go back to _his_ world, where he knew what to expect from everyone.

Sitting on his bed with nothing he would like to do, he wished Sirius would come back soon.

Bored and drained, the bed looked very tempting to him. He shoved everything back to their original place and lied down on the bed. It’s very comfortable and didn’t feel that different from his Slytherin dormitory bed, Regulus thought drowsily and he slowly fell asleep.

When he woke up it was already dark outside the window. He wondered what time it was now. He definitely missed dinner.

A sudden voice startled him.

“Oh, so you are awake. Great. I was thinking I really need to wake you up by now.”

It was Sirius, and he felt his heartbeat slowed down to a normal pace.

“I fell asleep in the late afternoon. I must have missed dinner.” Regulus said.

Sirius lit up the room and grinned, “Don’t worry. I never let anyone starve under my care. I’ve saved you something when I realised you were asleep. If that’s not enough, we could always sneak out to the kitchen later.”

“Oh…Thanks…” Sneaking out into the kitchen? That definitely sounded like something Sirius would do.

Sirius went downstairs and brought up a rather large piece of cake, some chicken wings and lots of fruit. He sat down next to Regulus carefully.

Regulus looked at what Sirius brought and smiled.

“Thanks,” Regulus said again before digging in, grateful that Sirius remembered to bring something for him.

“No problem.” Sirius grinned.

Regulus finished the food quickly and went to wash his hands. When he came back, he found Sirius looking up and down at him for a moment.

Regulus’s smiled sheepishly at him, “Is there anything wrong?”

Sirius shook his head, remaining silent.

“Tell me about yourself.” Sirius finally broke the silence after a few moments of awkwardness, “I wanted to know…what _Regulus_ would be like if he’s in Slytherin. I’ve been wondering about this for the whole afternoon.”

Regulus pressed his lips tight.

“…you really wouldn’t want to know the details.” He said after a moment, eyes staring out at the window, determinedly not looking at Sirius, “It is what you could expect, I think.”

Sirius contemplated and then said slowly, “So, it’s something like, you think Mother and Father are right…That Muggles and Muggleborns are filthy; that I am a blood traitor…and…”

“Yes.” Regulus interrupted him a little coldly, suddenly irritated at Sirius for bringing up this topic, “So don’t bother to play nice elder brother to me. I am not the Regulus of yours. I am not _your_ brother!”

 _Like you painstakingly reminded me every time I met you and your lot, that only_ they _were your brothers._

Regulus stood up abruptly and turned to leave, didn’t want to stay in the same room with Sirius any longer. Not if he wanted to talk about _that_.

“No, I am not.” Sirius grabbed Regulus’s shoulder from behind to stop him and whirled him around. Sirius’s grey eyes seemed to shine brightly. He looked at Regulus’s expression carefully and his voice softened, “Yet you miss _your_ brother, don’t you?”

Regulus felt his eyes moistened.

“I…” He stammered, wanted to deny, but couldn’t get out a word.

 _Oh, he’s going to see me cry if he doesn’t stop staring._ Regulus thought desperately.

Sirius suddenly moved closer to him and embraced him tightly.

“Don’t cry, Reg…And I am sorry, Regulus. I am sorry if I ever hurt you. I am sorry if sometimes I said something that I didn’t mean to. I am sorry if I had treated you badly. I am sorry.” Sirius said quietly to him.

But he was crying in Sirius’s arms now. Sobbing into his brother’s shoulder, he thought in despair. _If only this is_ my _Sirius, if only my brother could say something like this to me._

He shut his eyes tightly and rasped, still clung to his brother (Oh how he wish it was truly his brother) tightly, “And I am sorry! I am sorry I listened to Mother and Father! I am sorry I didn’t realise you are right! I am sorry I joined _them_. I am sorry I’ve killed! I don’t want to anymore! I am so sorry!”

He was suddenly frozen and _Oh what had he said_! This was not true, he was only in his sixth year; he had not joined the Dark Lord. Not yet. He hadn’t killed, and…

But Sirius’s face in front of him was distorting, changing into an expression of hatred and disdain. His eyes filled with disgust.

“No Sirius, please! Don’t! Sirius, please don’t…Listen to me…I didn’t…”

Suddenly Sirius was no longer there. He disappeared in a swirl with everything else. Regulus was now standing on the shore of _that_ lake, looking into countless deathly faces of inferi.

He screamed.

Panting heavily and sweating, he opened his eyes. He realised he’s still in his dusty room. No Hogwarts; no Sirius; all alone.

Sitting up and staring at the empty space, Regulus shivered. Tugging the bed sheets up a little, he thought he could still feel Sirius’s warm embrace around him. Sirius’s voice echoed in his ears.

_I am sorry, Regulus. I am sorry if I ever hurt you._

And he wept silently in the darkness.

**End of Sunday**


End file.
